word order - When alphabetizing, which goes first?

When ordering these two names of places, which is first? Why?

Newark, New York

Answer

In traditional alphabetization, Newark precedes New York because spaces and punctuation are ignored (and 'a' precedes 'y').

In indexes prepared by computer, it is common to see New York precede Newark because a simple approach to sorting in a computer program is to directly compare the strings of characters, in which case the 'a' of Newark falls in the same (fourth) position as the blank between New and York, and blank compares less than 'a'.